Mercedes F1 team boss Toto Wolff is missing his second race in succession this weekend after undergoing a knee operation, but the Austrian is remotely present in every meeting insists Lewis Hamilton.
Wolff’s absence in Japan two weeks ago - where assistant team principal Jerome d’Ambrosio picked up the bulk of the Austrian responsibilities - was planned well in advance.
However, Wolff had hoped that his rehabilitation period would be short lived and that he would be standing post in Qatar. But that isn’t the case.
But Hamilton made it a point of revealing that Wolff was and will be present in every meeting and debrief conducted by the team over the course of the weekend.
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“Toto's in every meeting,” said the seven-time world champion. “I saw someone wrote the other day that he had to call in or something for the last race... it was BS.
"Toto, even though he is not here in person - he is obviously devastated he can't be here - he is a part of every single meeting.
“He dialed into the meeting today, he will dial into the meeting tomorrow morning, he'll be in the meeting in the afternoon.”
Hamilton suggested that while he’s working remote, Wolff’s involvement is as active as it typically is on a race weekend.
“He is on the comms just like the guys back at the factory are on the comms for strategy on the weekend,” said the Briton.
“He is still 100 per cent full a part, he's just not physically here in the country, but he is still a part of those meetings, he speaks in all the meetings as he does when he's here.
“He has worked incredibly hard to set up this team to be where it is today and he should be able to have weekends off without a problem - he is the boss.
“I just tell him we will be pushing and not to worry.”
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